“Women with high oestrogen and low progesterone levels are most attractive to men in an olfactory sense,” said lead researcher Daria Knoch in a statement on Tuesday, summarising research carried out by the University of BernExternal link, the University of Konstanz, and the Thurgau Institute of Economics.
The new scientific work, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, is the first to recognise a link between female scent and fertility.
In their study, 57 men rated the body smells of 28 women of naturally reproductive age who followed a strict dietary and behavioural protocol to prevent the results from being distorted. Body odour was collected overnight from each woman’s armpit using a cotton pad. The women’s hormone levels were also monitored from saliva samples.
The men then evaluated the attractiveness of the odours rating them from 0 to 100 points.
The researchers were also able to eliminate other factors that might influence body odour such as the stress hormone cortisol and certain genes that have an impact on the immune system.
“Reproductive hormones are indicators of a woman’s fertility. And the higher their levels are, the more attractive the woman is to men,” said Lobmaier.
The results “make sense” in terms of evolutionary biology, the authors concluded.
“Lots of oestrogen and not much progesterone indicates high female fertility. According to evolution theory, men look for women with whom they can successfully reproduce.”
Swiss money laundering office registers record number of reports
This content was published on
The Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) registered a record number of reports of suspicious activity last year.
Two teens accused of planning terror attack released from custody
This content was published on
The Schaffhausen judiciary has released the two teenagers from custody who allegedly planned bomb attacks in Switzerland.
OECD: Sluggish economic activity slowing growth in Switzerland
This content was published on
Sluggish economic activity at the start of the year is weighing on growth in Switzerland, with GDP expected to fall to 1.1% in 2024.
Report finds mistakes which led to Swiss government data breach
This content was published on
Mistakes were made by both the government and internet company Xplain in the case of a criminal cyber-attack on the Bern-based IT business.
Swiss government wants better gender balance in federal administration
This content was published on
New Swiss government personnel management targets say there must be even more female managers in the federal administration.
Swiss national science foundation funded over 5,000 projects in 2023
This content was published on
In 2023, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) provided a total of CHF961 million worth of funding towards research projects.
Switzerland invites 160 delegations to June Ukraine peace talks
This content was published on
Russia is currently not among the delegations invited to talks aimed at helping bring about peace in the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.
Survey: air travel most popular way to go on holidays for Swiss
This content was published on
Despite the climate crisis, flying is the most popular mode of transport for private travel – particularly among young, urban and high-income travellers.
Swiss government to use phone data to identify asylum seekers
This content was published on
From April 2025, authorities plan to be able to analyse data from mobile phones, computers and other data carriers to identify asylum seekers.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.